Sunday, October 30, 2016

This map, drawn by the Bureau of Reclamation, was part of a set
of specifications produced handed out to prospective bidders of the building of
Grand Coulee Dam and all the support facilities. It provided those who were not
familiar with the location of the dam the exact place it was to be built. The
book provides exact measurements for every aspect of building the dam,
including where the railroad was to be built.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Building
of the Construction Railroad between Coulee City and Grand Coulee happened
during the Great Depression, so labor was quite cheap and in abundance. Also,
the line itself didn’t have a lot of heavy construction to complete the grade,
so a few machines, some animals, and human labor were all that were needed to
easily build the line. Note that the railroad ties are not treated with
creosote, a normal railroad practice. This would increase the cost of
construction, but prolong the life of the ties in the dry environment of the
Grand Coulee area. The railroad wasn’t expected to last much beyond the
construction of the dam.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

This unique photo shows the car-slip in operation during construction of Grand Coulee Dam in 1935. Built on the left abutment of the dam, this incline lowered or raised cars between the Construction railroad, at an elevation of 1310 feet, and the trestle deck, at an elevation of 1180 feet. It allowed critical loads of cement to be quickly placed near the mixing facility.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

The firm of Dravo-Degerstrom of Spokane was the contractor in charge of building the 6 mile branch to Royal City. The work was carried out under the supervision of the railroad’s division engineer, T. M. Pajari. Here is a mechanical tamper, used to help settle the ballast between the ties. This is located along the gentle climb out of the Crab Creek area, but before the heavy grades and horseshoe curve across Red Rock Coulee. Most of the grading for the track was completed in 1966 and the whole project was to cost around $1 million.

Friday, October 21, 2016

The first part of the branch curved hard from the mainline, closest to the bottom of the photo, and headed north and down towards the bottom lands along Crab Creek. Royal City is up on the far bench of land, so the tracks had to climb a steady 2.2% grade at one point, with a horseshoe curve as well. This branch was purchased by Burlington Northern in 1980, and now after many years of no activity and purchase by the State of Washington, trains could once again be running to Royal City.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Photograph by Wade Stevenson; courtesy of the Othello Community Museum.

A typical mid-1970s local train from Royal City is seen rounding the curve to meet up with the mainline at Royal City Junction. After entering the mainline, the train will make the short trip back to Othello, where the cars will quickly be inserted into a through freight.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Photograph by Wade Stevenson; courtesy of the Othello Community Museum.

This is the crew of the first official train to operate on the Royal City Spur. From left to right are unknown, Dick Donley, Dick Nelson, Ernie Knott, and Bob Camp, dressed for his job of union representative. Mr. Camp’s presence was to be the arbitrator between enforcing the union rules and the company, who tried to disallow extra time that trainmen claimed for, among other things, unusual things that happened during a trip, such as being the first train on the line.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

The train to Marcellus has stopped at Packard to perform some switching in May 1979. Packard had once been a small but bustling town, but two grain elevator fires, the first in 1921 and the second in 1946, really slowed down the vitality of the town.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

I've edited this posting to use a more local paper, which ran a longer story. A few of you have pointed out that the description of the trestle better fits the one in Lynch Coulee, between Trinidad and Crater.